1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sealing structure of a fuel inlet box having a portion for storing an arm portion of a lid body.
2. Description of Related Art
A fuel inlet box is mounted around an inlet opening of a fuel filler pipe in a vehicle body panel of a vehicle. An example of the fuel inlet box is shown in PTL 1. FIG. 14 corresponds to FIG. 3 of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-319960 (PTL 1). As shown in FIG. 14, a box portion 92 of a fuel inlet box 90 is fixed so as to fit onto a mounting surface 91a at a periphery of a mounting hole formed in a vehicle body panel 91. A bottom portion of the box portion 92 is connected to an inlet opening 93a at an upper end of a fuel filler pipe 93, which is connected to a fuel tank, not shown. Next to the box portion 92, the fuel inlet box 90 has a storage wall 95 having a storage space for rotatably storing an arm portion 94a provided on a lid body 94.
However, a hinge joint portion 94b of the arm portion 94a of the lid body 94 is fixed to the storage wall 95. Therefore, load is applied to the storage wall 95 by opening and closing operations of the lid body 94, and the storage wall 95 is easily deformed. In this case, a gap may be formed between a fitting portion 95a of the storage wall 95 and the mounting surface 91a, decreasing sealing characteristics and causing water entry into the vehicle body.
As a measure to improve the sealing characteristics of the fitting portion 95a, it is possible to increase volume of the fitting portion 95a of the storage wall 95 to enhance rigidity of the fitting portion 95a and then fit the enlarged fitting portion 95a onto the mounting surface 91a. In this case, however, the great volume of the fitting portion 95a may apply excessive compressive load onto the mounting surface 91a and cause problems such as deformation of the mounting surface 91a and a decrease in sealing characteristics caused by the deformation.
Moreover, since the fuel inlet box 90 is surrounded by a great number of vehicle component parts, sometimes the mounting surface 91a formed on the vehicle body panel 91 cannot have a sufficiently great depth D. In this case, a gap between the mounting surface 91a and the storage wall 95 is small, so the fitting portion 95a of the storage wall 95 for fitting onto the mounting surface 91a is difficult to have a sufficiently large size to exhibit sealing characteristics.
Under these circumstances, as shown in FIG. 15, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-241286 (PTL 2) proposed to prevent deformation of the mounting surface 91a and improve sealing characteristics by fixing a sealing member 97 to the fuel inlet box 90, forming a seal lip 97a at an outer peripheral portion of the sealing member 97 and bringing a lip surface of the sealing lip 97a in close contact with the mounting surface 91a. 
However, since the seal lip 97a is formed at the outer peripheral portion of the sealing member 97, which is formed of an elastic material, the contact of the seal lip 97a with the mounting surface 91a is weak and sealing characteristics are not good enough.
3. Prior Art Literature
[Patent Literature]
[PTL 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-319960
[PTL 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-241286